Re: setting $VERSION at runtime

[Bruce Korb]

Brian Dessent wrote:
> We have an application where the version number (for the purposes of
> creating a dist tarball) is determined by grepping for $Revision $ in
> the toplevel ChangeLog.  Because this is not a static value, it means we
> can't just set VERSION when running automake, since a commit could cause
> it to bump without regenerating any Makefiles or such.  So at the moment
> our "dist" tarballs are named "foo-0" (and contain files in a foo-0
> directory), instead of the proper version.
>
> I've looked at using the dist-hook but it seems that at that point the
> distdir has already been created and it's too late to rename it.
>
> Is there any way of setting this value of VERSION for the "dist" rule at
> runtime?

Hi Brian,

What is your goal?  If your desire is to have a version that always "bumps"
without having to think about it, you might want to consider thinking again.  :)
As you have noticed, by using ChangeLog you have to manually do something
else.  What it boils down to is that at some point you do have to do something
manually.  Make it something simple and easy, then it will be obvious and
maintainable to boot.  :)  Good luck - Bruce